Bayside Melancholy
by TakatoMatsuda90
Summary: Two years after the D-Reaper incident, Juri, Jianliang and Ruki had moved, and Kenta had been transferred to another school. Only Takato and Hirokazu remained together in Shinjuku. After long enduring his nostalgia and acting tough, Hirokazu finally opened up to his friend Takato.


_**Bayside Melancholy**_

**A/N:** The events in the Drama CDs and "Runaway Locomon" did not occur in this fic's scenario.

* * *

A tepid autumn morning in Shinjuku, under a mostly clear sky dotted by sparse, milky white clouds. Chirping birds still clung to the last remaining leaves on the trees, seeking shelter under their scarce cover overnight. A soft breeze rose every now and then, briefly ruffling brown and golden leaves coasting along the sidewalks, and across the busy streets, and together into short-lived spinning dances and then apart once more, with each breath of nature.

He could feel the breeze on his bare shins below his grey knee-length trousers, and on his silky brown hair, as he headed towards school on that morning. His bright crimson eyes, underlined by a relaxed smile, glittering with the essence of youth, did what they could to take the whole scenery in. Taking deep breaths—his chest visibly puffing under his white cotton t-shirt and his open, dark red, sleeveless down jacket—, the goggled boy named Takato savored every last scent the breeze brought him during his walk as he, little by little, chewed on a warm piece of delicately sweet bread filled with red apple jam.

'What a nice day...', Takato quietly whispered to himself as he entered the park that he formerly frequented, for other reasons, in those golden days. It had been little over two years since the day he bid farewell to Guilmon, the Digimon that he had created. Time heals all but death, as it is said, and although he still missed his partner dearly, he was no longer too sad about it; by then he only had blissful memories of their joys and adventures.

Indeed, two years had passed since the last time the Tamers had all been together. After the departure of their partners, as the ex-Tamers slowly tried to come to terms with closure and return to their normal lives, fate decided to pull them apart. Merely a month after, Juri moved to the northeastern island of Hokkaido with her father, who, after the D-Reaper ordeal, had decided that Tokyo was too dangerous a place for Juri, and did not want her to face such peril again.

Not too long afterwards, Jianliang's father was relocated to Hong Kong by his company, forcing the entire family to move there. Ruki and her family moved to England to begin a new life, due to the newfound success of her mother's modelling and acting venture in Europe. Kenta did not move, but he was transferred to a distant private school for gifted students, and also attended a cram school every evening, barely having any time to hang out with his old friends.

Only Takato and Hirokazu remained together in Shinjuku, in the end.

'Hey Takato', waved Hirokazu from outside the abandoned building that was once Guilmon's hideout. He wore a thin dark olive sweater over a black t-shirt, navy blue cargo pants and a grey scarf, all topped by his usual sports visor. Takato simply smiled and waved back at his friend. 'You're finally here! I got up a bit earlier toda—ooh, is that some of your mother's special sweet bread?', inquired Hirokazu in a delighted tone. Avid customer of the Matsuda bakery, he would always dig out all the scarce money he could find in his pockets whenever Ms. Matsuda showcased some of that special bread in the display windows.

'Ah, yeah!', replied Takato as he ran to meet Hirokazu. 'You can have some!', the boy exclaimed as he split the remaining bread in two roughly similar parts. Carefully comparing them both, he eagerly gave the larger portion to the scarf wearer with a warm smile.

'O-oh, really!? You're amazing, Takato!', merrily replied Hirokazu, grinning, swiftly ruffling Takato's hair with one hand as he received the treat with the other. Hastily chewing at the delicious bread he always enjoyed, Hirokazu went on walking alongside his friend towards school.

Myriad sunlight beams shone through between the mostly bare branches of the trees, and down onto the thick carpet of fallen leaves that covered most of the soil within the park. The footpaths more traveled remained partially visible, as a lone bastion of civilization, lined on the sides by small piles of leaves swept away by foot and sole; the less traveled had all but disappeared under the brownish shapes that fell upon their surface.

As it shone upon the ground, so it shone upon the boys as they walked towards the exit, chatting. They had made a ritual of meeting up every morning at 'the hideout', as they still called it, before heading to school, small talk aplenty on the way. This morning, however, Takato thought he noticed something different: Hirokazu seemed to be in more of a pensive mood, barely showing any of his usual energetic self—other than when he had received the piece of bread—and struggling to follow up on his attempts at conversation.

Pedestrians and vehicles alike broke into view, fluttering in the boys' surroundings as they reached into the busy streets of Shinjuku. The noisy bustling of the hectic workday morning commute seemed almost cartoonishly antithetical to the deep calm found within the park, part of the reason why the boys enjoyed meeting up there, even though it meant taking a detour from their shortest path to school. (Another part of it was, of course, for its nostalgic value.)

Although he was able to converse to some extent, Takato still felt somewhat puzzled by Hirokazu's mood as they had almost arrived at school. 'Hirokazu... is something wrong, buddy?', finally said Takato in a sweet and soft tone as he slowed down his pace, laid a hand on Hirokazu's back and looked directly at his friend, who hadn't even finished his bread yet, despite the voracity with which he had begun eating it.

'Uh—what? No, what do you mean?', replied Hirokazu, partially lost in thought.

'Oh, it's just that... I don't know, you seem a bit worried today', explained Takato in the same soft tone. 'Are you alright?'

Hirokazu grinned, looking back at his friend. 'Oh, yeah, I'm fine! I was merely thinking', said Hirokazu with a smile.

'Thinking? Quite unusual for you', teased Takato, in relief, with a brief chuckle.

'Hey, how dare you!?', playfully went Hirokazu with feigned anger and a light punch to Takato's shoulder as the boys laughed. 'Well, it's just that... I was remembering old things', he continued. 'Hey Takato, would you mind going down to Hinode Pier this afternoon after class? I heard it was reopened last weekend... TV said it had been remodeled, and—uh, I thought we could go check it out', broke out Hirokazu before Takato could ask anything further.

'A-ah, cool, sure, let's go!', replied Takato, a bit surprised by the sudden suggestion, but always happy to hang out with Hirokazu.

* * *

As the last class period ended, Takato and Hirokazu looked at each other with raised eyebrows, an unspoken confirmation of their plans. They quickly packed up their belongings and left the classroom, heading towards Shinjuku Station. The air slightly warmer than that morning, they no longer wore their scarves, sweaters or jackets. 'We have to get to Hamamatsucho Station, about thirty minutes away', explained Hirokazu, 'then it's a short walk to the pier from there.'

'Why Hinode Pier, though?', asked Takato. 'I-I mean, I'm not complaining, it'll be cool, but out of all places we could go, uh, well...', he went on, trying to soften his question—wrongly believing it had sounded harsh to Hirokazu—but unable to find the right words.

'Ah, I just guess I kinda like the bay. It's refreshing to see some water once in a while, don't you think so?', responded Hirokazu calmly, after a brief pause for thought, as he stared off into the distance.

_He's in that weird mood again_, thought Takato. 'Oh, yeah, that's true', said Takato, trying to comfort his friend with a smile.

Almost exactly thirty minutes after having reached Shinjuku Station, they were disembarking at Hamamatsucho. 'Well Hirokazu, uh... you do know the way, right? I've never been here alone—ehm, without my parents, I mean, and well, I don't think I could recall which way we went from here, so...', blurted out awkwardly Takato with some embarassment.

'It's fine Takato, trust me on this', said Hirokazu in a friendly and confident tone. Takato nodded sharply, with a brief humming sound.

Many other people, previously co-passengers of the boys aboard the train, seemed to be headed in the same direction, Hirokazu noted. The bayside atmosphere tepid much like that very morning at the park, a subtle orange tint in the sky hinted at the first steps of the sunset's approach, and small clouds were spattered all over the heavenly canvas. Takato gazed upwards for a moment as his friend led the way.

Both boys' eyes glittered as the remodeled pier broke into view. Tiny colored flags hung, over the wooden section of the pier, from strings extended between poles adorned by electrical lights of multiple titillating colors. A multitude of new market stalls sold all kinds of souvenirs, foods and local craftsmanship arranged in neat patterns, and signs with beautiful landscapes advertised ship tours around the bay. Flocks of people visited the pier at the time. Carefully trimmed potted plants decorated a line down the middle of the pier, beautiful benches set on each side for the visitors.

As they entered the pier, the first stall that caught Takato's eye was a street vendor showcasing muffins and other sweet treats. 'Want a muffin, Hirokazu? It's on me!', said Takato with lit eyes as he tugged at his friend's arm. Hirokazu gladly accepted the offer, picking a strawberry muffin while Takato favored chocolate.

Strolling down the pier, chatting and eating on the way, they finally settled at its far end, sitting down on the edge to devour the last remnants of their food. Small, dispersed flocks of seagulls were visible in the distant sky, now turned orange whole, as a backdrop to the main view of the imposing Rainbow Bridge. The calm rolling and splashing of the waves on the bay seemed to draw out the taller boy's feelings afloat, once again.

'Takato...', he began hesitantly, 'tell me... do you miss the others? Kenta, Jianliang, our partners...?'.

Takato nodded. 'I do...', the goggled boy said pensively, 'but I think I'm slowly learning to accept it'.

After a brief pause, Takato turned to his left, looking at Hirokazu, and tenderly placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. 'What's wrong, buddy?', he said with concern upon seeing Hirokazu's sad countenance.

Somewhat embarassed at expressing his feelings, yet knowing he could trust Takato, and truly desiring to talk about it—that was exactly why he had brought him to the pier, after all—, Hirokazu began speaking up. 'Having dealt with all that mess with the D-Reaper and whatnot, well... I thought we would all be great inseparable friends afterwards', he began, gazing at the Rainbow Bridge, 'but then... we all got pulled apart so suddenly'.

Takato hummed in acknowledgment, keeping his hand on Hirokazu.

Closing his eyes, Hirokazu continued. 'First it was our partners... I had hoped they would stay with us! Guardromon was so cool... he wasn't just any Digimon, but another good friend. And then, they tell us our partners must go...', Hirokazu explained as he clenched a fist in frustration. 'And then, our other friends too. Juri, Jianliang, Ruki... all gone. Even Kenta; I know he's still around, but he's being pushed so hard to be a good student that he doesn't even leave his home that much anymore. We haven't played cards with him ever again... and that's really... that's all just really sad', he said, lowering his head.

Mild breeze rising, seagulls' cries, the sound of waves gently pushing against land and the busy chatter of strangers all over the pier; nothing shook Hirokazu out of his sincere and painful reflection.

Takato could not think of much to say, in truth. The departure of Guilmon and his friends had also been very painful for him, but he had openly wept and grieved, his sorrow fading into bliss over time. Hirokazu, on the other hand, had tried to maintain a tough demeanor and avoided becoming too emotional over the subject; apparently, the previously swept away grief had now finally caught up with him.

'When we went to the Digital World, I felt like I was living a dream, you know...? All that time spent playing cards, and suddenly they had become real, and I thought "hey, this is incredible!"... when I became Guardromon's tamer it was even cooler, like living a dream within an already amazing dream, so to say. But it's all gone now, never to occur again', sighed Hirokazu as he paused for a moment. As he opened his silver-blue eyes, Takato managed to notice a glint of wetness in them before Hirokazu turned his face away.

'I just believe I... I didn't want to face it before. I kept thinking, "oh, but surely the Digital World will need our help again, and we'll all meet up and go there once again!"; I kept thinking I would see Guardromon again; I kept thinking that, somehow, the others wouldn't leave in the end and we'd remain together... but I've begun to realize I was simply lying to myself', Hirokazu let out in a broken, almost whimpering voice as Takato gently patted his back.

'Hirokazu, I'm sorry', softly said Takato after thinking for a bit. 'I miss them all, too. I couldn't believe it when Guilmon became real! I had merely sketched him up hastily, and suddenly he was right in front of me, living, breathing... we became great friends, and now he's gone', Takato paused for a moment. 'Going all together on that adventure to save Culumon was incredible at first, before it all turned out much more dangerous than we had expected. But in the end, it all went fine—and I felt like we were invincible! Nothing would ever break our bonds, I thought... but in the end, everyone had to leave', he continued nostalgically.

Stopping for a moment to make sure Hirokazu was listening, and being careful not to make light of Hirokazu's thoughts, Takato adopted a more mature tone. 'And well... I can't really say if we'll ever see our partners again. We truly have no way of knowing, and that's quite sad. I do believe it's possible, though; do you really think that this is the last we'll ever hear about the Digital World in our lives?', asked Takato rhetorically.

'Maybe we won't be seeing them soon, or even within a handful of years, but someday, I wonder...', said Takato as Hirokazu slowly nodded, 'maybe Yamaki, or Jianliang's father, or even Kenta might come up with something'.

'And if it's possible to meet even our Digimon again in the future, then isn't it even _more_ of a possibility that we'll meet Jianliang and the rest again too? We might all be far away, but at least we're not in different worlds', Takato reasoned as Hirokazu nodded and listened attentively.

'In the end, it's true, we don't really know if we can all be together again with our friends and partners... but I would definitely believe it's possible', concluded Takato as he gazed directly at Hirokazu's moist and reddened eyes. 'And even if you don't agree with that... we can always still talk about it, alright? Count on me, and don't be afraid to tell me what you feel, Hirokazu', finished Takato supportively in a tender tone, giving his friend a reassuring nod.

After a few moments of silence, letting out a deep sigh and showing a renewed smile, though still teary-eyed, Hirokazu relievedly said 'Thank you... I guess I'm glad you're still here, Takato', as he drew Takato's head onto his right chest and playfully messed his hair.

Takato blushed at first, somewhat embarassed by the position Hirokazu had brought him into, but soon he found comfort in his friend's embrace. 'Yeah... me too', said Takato shyly with a cute expression as he wrapped his arms around Hirokazu in a warm hug.


End file.
